We live in a world of images. It wasn't always so. I am 49 years old. I turn 50 in late January. When I was a kid, I had a fairly simple life, immersed in the "real". While I was born in North York, a northern suburb of Toronto, I grew up in far-flung development …
Continue reading "Finding reality in a world of representations"
I went on a kayak trip to the West Coast of Canada recently. It was beautiful beyond one's imagination. I kayaked from Okeover Inlet into Desolation Sound, British Columbia. The sense of solitude and togetherness with humanity there has remained with me since. I had many adventures on this trip. I saw a Minke whale …
Continue reading "In solitude, we don’t escape people, we escape machines"
I think that artificial intelligence is going to have a totalizing impact on anything digital in our economy and society. This will lead to a rapid transformation of our culture and sense of self. We see the precursors to this transformation in the effects of social and digital media on people. Individual and social cognition, …
We think we need to categorize in order to appreciate or understand something. This is reductive, eroding that ability to appreciate the ineffable which is our true genius. Understanding comes not in labels, categories, but in an appreciation of reality in its depth and elegance, in the moment and across time in the past and …
I will be honest with you, 2022 was a mixed bag in terms meeting my New Year's resolutions. I didn't meet fitness goals, didn't focus on music much. However, I did manage to trim distractions. I also did a lot of research, which has positioned me well to achieve my writing objectives in 2o23. In …
We have heard many opinions about Queen Elizabeth II, ranging from fawning admirers to resentful critics. For me, this range of commentary, coming out of ideological commitment is of little interest. Ideological thinking is inherently unreasoned, therefore of little value if we wish to speak of any profound human truth. Ideological thinking is a reductive …
We live in a world of clichés and ideologues. In this internet age, we are surrounded by glass-eyed people, robots who chase their ideas and have forgotten their humanity. And yet, in this madness there remain those who are unabashedly committed to putting aside ideological vanity and instead let themselves be guided by the old …
Continue reading "Dr. Paul Bates has died. A life in search of the Good."
Sometimes you visit a place that just feels right. My recent visit to De Mazenod Farm was like that. The Farm is a development of the De Mazenod Door program, which was started by Fathers Tony O'Dell and Jarek Pachoki, both Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate. It was named after Saint Eugene de Mazenod, a …
Continue reading "A visit to De Mazenod Farm – A quiet Christian contribution"
This post features a sequence of four videos about strategy, in which I have a conversation with Mark John Stewart, an entrepreneur of note (Wentworth Strategy, FlyPrint), not-for-profit co-founder (Empowerment Squared) and MCM strategy instructor. We really got into it. Enjoy. These videos were recorded to serve the community of learners who are seeking Accreditation …
This is a quick personal narrative about why I love walking in the forest. Memories, imagination, creativity. I walk for many reasons. Obviously, I need to get from place to place. Sometimes I need a workout, so I walk fast or listen to music that will make me walk even faster. Other times, I walk …
